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Eye Am What I Eat

We are becoming more and more aware of the extent that we are what we eat. And a new campaign called "Eye Am What I Eat" is hoping to get people – especially those with diabetes – to eat certain foods that will take care of their eye health.

There are 140,000 people in Ireland registered as having diabetes. However, experts estimate that the real figure might be closer to two hundred and twenty thousand. One person with diabetes goes blind in Ireland each week. In some cases, this outcome is completely avoidable.

To tell us more, we are joined in studio today by eye doctor Dr. Mark Cahill, spokesperson for the Irish College of Ophthalmologists and retinal specialist at the Royal Victoria Eye and Ear Hospital.

Diabetic RetinaScreen

There is a national screening programme available for people with diabetes. The National Diabetic Retinal Screening Programme, 'Diabetic RetinaScreen', offers free, regular diabetic retinopathy screening to all people with diabetes, aged 12 and older.

Through the programme, people who are registered are invited to attend for screening. When people get the letter of invitation, they need to call the Freephone number listed on their letter to make an appointment. This will go a long way to maintaining healthy eyes and preventing vision loss in people with diabetes.

This service is available for everybody who is registered as having diabetes in Ireland.

They are looking for listeners to use these ingredients to come up with a recipe, which will be judged by celebrity chef, Andrew Rudd. All recipes must be submitted at www.eyeamwhatIeat.ie or via post to Eye Am What I Eat, c/o Pembroke Communications, 5th Floor, Whitaker Court, Whitaker Square, Dublin 2 by 5pm on Monday, July 7th. Four finalists will be shortlisted by the judging panel and invited to attend the final event on Wednesday, July 23rd at Medley, Andrew Rudd’s private dining venue in Dublin City Centre, where the recipes will be prepared by Andrew and an overall winner will be selected. The event will be hosted by radio and TV personality, Ronan Collins, and prizes will include a six-course tasting menu for the winner, and a four-course meal for two for the runners-up, all prepared by Andrew Rudd at Medley.

The campaign has the backing of Diabetes Ireland, NCBI-the National Sight Loss Agency, Fighting Blindness, the Irish College of Ophthalmologists (ICO), the Association of Optometrists Ireland (AOI) and Novartis [a pharmaceutical company that creates drugs for diabetes]

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Jaywalking & The Irish Hotel Industry

The idea that you can be fined for crossing the road is alien to people here in Ireland but in other countries, the USA being a prime example, what’s known as jaywalking is a crime. American tourists who visit this country might be a little surprised to see Irish people cross the road wherever they can, regardless of traffic lights or pedestrian crossings or indeed heavy traffic.

The term "Jaywalking" was first used in the USA as a term of abuse, and it's effect was to embarrass pedestrians into changing their behaviour on the roads.

Peter Norton is a history professor at the University of Virginia and author of Fighting Traffic – The Dawn of the Motor Age in the American City.

Derek spoke to Peter about the history of the crime of jaywalking, and the origins of the word.

And we're also joined in studio by Conor Faulknan, Director of Consumer Affairs for AA Ireland, and hotelier Paul Fitzpatrick, Managing Director of Fitzpatrick Hotel Solutions, who was caught jaywalking in Arizona...

Irish Hotel Industry

Fáilte Ireland have just published their latest barometer report on the Irish tourism business. They say almost three-quarters (74%) of tourism businesses are anticipating an increase in business in the year ahead.

Paul Fitzpatrick joins Derek to chat about whether this is reflected in the hotel industry here...

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The Journey's On Us 2014

For the past two years, Mooney have teamed up with Irish Rail for their "The Journey's On Us" giveaway. As part of this initiative, Iarnród Éireann will provide 100 groups with free return rail for up to 50 people per group.

It's a brilliant initiative and what we found over the last two years is it provides a fantastic day out for community, voluntary and charity groups.

Mooney reporter Brenda Donohue is in Céannt Railway Station in Galway for the launch of The Journey’s On Us 2014

Iarnród Éireann Irish Rail has launched the 2014 programme for The Journey’s On Us, an initiative to support organisations and groups in the voluntary, community, sporting and charity sector.

"The Journey's On Us" will provide 100 groups with a free group travel return journey for up to 50 people per group during 2014, meaning 5,000 free journeys are on offer across the company's services. The travel facilities will be ideal in particular for organisations bringing a group to a special event, or as part of a specific support to the members of the group which requires travel.

Iarnród Éireann Chief Executive David Franks said "Voluntary organisations are the life blood of communities across the country. However, like everyone, their budgets have been cut. We know there are youth, sports, music, voluntary, charity and other groups in the community who would benefit greatly from being able to undertake initiatives which involve a travel cost, but have had to scale back. We in Iarnród Éireann, through The Journey's On Us, want to do what we can to help such groups achieve their goals, and say thank you to the organisations which play such a vital role in the daily lives of communities. The initiative is now in its third year with the interest and amount of groups applying has grown significantly each year, which we are absolutely delighted with."

The company has today invited all community, voluntary, sporting and charity groups to apply for the 100 group travel trips available. Entry forms are available at all Iarnród Éireann stations or online at www.irishrail.ie/journeys . Entry forms can be filled out online, emailed tojourneys@irishrail.ie or by post to Corporate Communications, Iarnród Éireann, Connolly Station, Dublin 1. The closing date for receipt of entries is Monday July 14th, at 16.30hrs.

Last year, over 750 groups applied for the scheme, and organisations ranging from Men's Sheds to choirs, Special Olympics to Girl Guides, and groups representing youth and elderly, benefited from "The Journey's On Us". Last year Iarnród Éireann offered for the first time a special prize for the winning group that submitted the most interesting and inspirational account of their day travelling with them. The winner of the prize was Special Hands Activity Group from Kelly, Co. Meath.

The initiative is being supported nationally by RTÉ Radio 1's Mooney, and Brenda Donohue is joining customers and staff at Ceannt Railway Station, Galway today to launch "The Journey's On Us" 2014. They were joined by Galway Community Circus who were a winner of one of the trips last year. Mooney will also feature successful groups throughout the year.

All applications will be considered by an adjudicating panel and successful groups will be notified from July onwards. For further information and to see terms and conditions please log onto www.irishrail.ie/journeys.

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Singles Night Out!

We are organising a singles night out for our listeners who are over 35! The where and when is still being finalised, but if you are interested in joining in the fun, then send us an e-mail! Let us know your age, gender, and if you are single. You must be available to travel to the venue at your own expense. Please send your e-mail to mooney@rte.ie, with the subject line 'Singles Night Out'. And keep listening for further information!

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Search For A Child Star Finalists

Earlier this year, we launched our competition to find Ireland's newest child star. The competition was open to boys and girls who were aged 10 years old or under. We asked you to record a piece that was no more than three minutes long, and e-mail it in to us.

The finalists, in no particular order, are:

- Hannah Kinsella (9 years old, from Lucan, Co. Dublin) with Pushover- Nikki Brown (8 years old, from Saggart, Co. Dublin) with Colours Of The Wind- Anna Lily Fox (6 years old, from Ballinalee, Co. Longford) with a Johnny Cash medley- Laoise Farrell (9 years old, from Ogonnolloe. Co. Clare) with The Call- Alannah Bermingham (10 years old, from Kilmacud, Dublin) with Colours Of The Wind

The date for the final will be announced shortly and the winner will perform at our Christmas Mooney Tunes concert.

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Hedgerows: It is an offence to 'cut, grub, burn or otherwise destroy hedgerows on uncultivated land during the nesting season from 1 March to 31 August, subject to certain exceptions'. For more information, click here.